No show in classrooms; teachers defy NLC directive to call off strike

Teacher unions have defied a directive from the National Labor Commission (NLC) to call off their strike.

The commission accused the teachers of refusing to notify it before withdrawing their services.

All public pre-tertiary teachers across the country on December 9 abandoned their classrooms to protest non-payment of what they call legacy arrears.

Three teacher unions– the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers– say the Ghana Education Service has failed to process their salary arrears from 2012 to 2015.

Following this industrial action by the teachers, the NLC ruled that the strike by the teachers was illegal.

It further ordered the teachers to return to the classrooms to teach but this has been ignored.

Checks in some schools across the country reveal there was a no show in the classrooms.

The teachers have vowed not to return to the classrooms until their monies are paid them.

NLC to take legal action against teachers

Executive Secretary of the NLC, Mr Ofosu Asamoa,  in an interview said the teachers risk losing their salaries if they fail to comply with their directive.

According to him, the commission will take legal action against the teachers if they do not adhere to their ruling.

“The law will take its cause. Illegal strikes are not paid for by the government so striking workers will not be paid by the government. We’re going to take legal steps to compel the leadership to get their members to go back to the classrooms or else they’ll be in contempt of the commission” he said.

Teachers failed to show up at NLC meeting

Mr Asamoah revealed that leadership of all three  teacher unions failed to show up at the meeting.

He noted that the ruling was tdone in the absence of the union leaders.

“The meeting came off except that they were absent. They wrote to us just about an hour and thirty minutes that all the executives of all the three unions were out of Accra to attend an equally important meeting. It’s quite worrying” he said.